[Toph's eyes widen sharply over Korra's shoulder. Hugged. She was being hugged. She'd been hugged by her parents before -- even occasionally by servants. Aang and the others too, during moments of happiness or mutual support. But never had anyone just hugged her out of the blue, pulled her to them like they were drowning. It startles her; her mind swims, pushed out into the water where she is blind.]
[For a few moments it's probably rather like holding a rock -- stiff, not at all soft. Then, slowly, her muscles ease. One arm loops under and then over Korra's shoulder, her hand lightly, uncertainly stroking the hair at the side of Korra's head. Her own mother used to do that when she was little, when Toph was sick . . . she remembers closing her eyes to it, feeling safe. Maybe somehow here, it will help too.]
[It takes another moment to absorb the words. She doesn't even know all the people Korra is talking about. The Avatar is still like a flood, the torrent of words and emotions rushing outward.]
You can't always . . . [She bites herself off, struggling against a surging sense of her own ineptitude.] Nobody could do what were supposed to do. We don't have any powers.
no subject
[For a few moments it's probably rather like holding a rock -- stiff, not at all soft. Then, slowly, her muscles ease. One arm loops under and then over Korra's shoulder, her hand lightly, uncertainly stroking the hair at the side of Korra's head. Her own mother used to do that when she was little, when Toph was sick . . . she remembers closing her eyes to it, feeling safe. Maybe somehow here, it will help too.]
[It takes another moment to absorb the words. She doesn't even know all the people Korra is talking about. The Avatar is still like a flood, the torrent of words and emotions rushing outward.]
You can't always . . . [She bites herself off, struggling against a surging sense of her own ineptitude.] Nobody could do what were supposed to do. We don't have any powers.